In the first half of Blood Brothers, author Elias Chacour, talks about his upbringing in Biram. He had a peaceful life with his mother, father, and siblings. He reminisces about his childhood home and tells readers about his family. Chacour and his family were Palestinian Christians. He mentions how peaceful his life was as a child and how he would roam the hills of Biram and talk to his “champion,” which is Jesus. Chacour discusses how he was the youngest of five children, how his mother told great Bible stories, and how his father was a true peacemaker. The way his father handled conflict is truly a rare and admirable thing. He demonstrated to his children what forgiveness should look like; he forgave the invaders despite all they had done to his family. Nowadays, people stereotype all Palestinians as terrorists, but Chacour’s story is proof that it is just a stereotype. That is part of the reason why his story is so heartbreaking. In 1947, Jews invaded Chacour’s village because they did not believe that it should belong to the Palestinians. It is sad because they had been living in peace for years and then they were forced to leave their home. Chacour goes on to write about his schooling experiences. His father and mother sent him to a strict school where he lived with orphans and had to answer to a bishop. He met Firaj, who would be his lifelong friend. After this schooling, Chacour had the choice and decided to continue his education by going to junior seminary. After seminary, he and Faraj went to Paris and met many different people and made friends. He had many new relational and spiritual experiences. Throughout the book, Chacour weaves in his spiritual thoughts with the conflicts that were going on. Towards the end of the first part of the book, his close German friends he made while living in Europe gave him a new car and chapter 8 ends with him getting ready to begin a new chapter in his life.
Blood Brothers, chapters 9-13
Chapter 9 starts at the time when Chacour and Faraj had their ordination ceremony. While on his way to Nazareth, Chacour was not allowed past security unless he was strip-searched. He refused, and ended up waiting eight hours until he was let back into his home country. Chacour alludes that this happened because of his Palestinian blood. In this chapter is when the term “blood brothers” is seen. It discusses how even though the Jews and Palestinians are in conflict with each other, they are truly “blood brothers” and they should be living in peace with each other. In this part of the book, Chacour gets his first ministry job in the town of Ibillin. At first, it was hard for him to reach out to the people, especially because the Responsible was difficult to deal with. After a great deal of time, Chacour began to round up more and more people to go to church. He even had nuns to help him with village duties involving the people. After months of working in Ibilin, Chacour realized that people from Ibillin had hatred in their hearts. A specific example of this are the brothers who could not even stand to be in the same room together and would not even speak cordially to each other when their mother passed away. Chacour spoke at a church service one day and it was about forgiveness. He went to extremes to get the people to make up and be in peace with each other. One of the brothers put his pride aside and asked for forgiveness from the other brothers. They all made up because of Chacour. Because of what his father had taught him from a young age about forgiveness and inner peace, he was able to apply that to other situations. The end of the book is all about how Chacour worked for reconciliation between the Jews and Palestinians, and he challenges his readers by asking them core questions about the conflict. He is still all about reconciliation today and makes many efforts for it. He believes that Jews and Palestinians should live in peace with each other because they are “blood brothers" and because of Jesus Christ, he is able to find his inner peace.
A Durable Peace
Benjamin Netanyahu’s book //A Durable Peace// address the crisis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The modern problem first arose with rise of Zionism. Zionism is a facet of Jewish culture in support of a Jewish nation state in Israel. The Zionist are strongly attached to the Jews culture and do not wish to have this cultural identity removed. It was due to the work of the Zionist movement that Israel was reclaimed as a Jewish state. Netanyahu also talks about the issue of Palestinian centrality, which means in order to find peace all of Palestine’s plethora of problems needs to be solved. There are two kinds of peace, which can come to Israel- a peace of deterrence or a Western view of peace. A peace of deterrence is more often seen in the Middle East and in countries under a dictatorship. It is a peace found by maintaining high defenses and avoiding war, since a high level of defense will deter others from trying to instigate war or other trouble. The Western view of peace relates to open borders, cooperation and even collaboration in fields such as science, education, and culture, a lack of hostility, and a certainty of the nonexistence of the desire for an armed conflict. A key element for this kind of peace is democracy. Finally, as Netanyahu seeks a durable peace, he remains hopeful that a lasting peace will one day come to Israel.
Chicago Trip
During our weekend experience in Chicago, we visited both a Muslim mosque and a Jewish synagogue. This time of learn as we saw similarities and differences between these two faiths. Before the visit some of us were unsure of the distinction between a mosque and a synagogue, but after experiencing both services a great understanding and appreciation was acquired. After the service at the mosque, a couple of Muslims spoke to our group basic principles of Islam. They also answered questions regarding their prayers, the male and female separation in the mosque, and their view on god/Jesus. The Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet, but they do not think he was the Son of God. Muslims believe in a unitarian God, and believe to worship the same god as Abraham. This leads to the question- Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? Also we had the opportunity to speak with a Jewish rabbi and a few others in attendance after attending the Shabbat. It was interesting to speak with one of the women at the synagogue. She shared with us information regarding the daily lives of Jews, specifically Jewish women. She even told us how to flirt and find a husband in the Jewish community. Another thing she shared with us is the high value, which the Jews place on family and having children. Next we spoke with the rabbi. He explained the Jewish view on God and Jesus. Jews worship the God of Father Abraham; however, Jews view Jesus as a prophet and not the messiah as he did not deliver military peace to the Jews. The rabbi also talked about his view on the conflict in Israel. He wished for peace between the Jews and Arab, and would like to see the two groups coexisting peaceful.
Articles
Israel’s survival at stake, Clinton warns by Daniel Dombey is an article describing Hillary Clinton’s response to Israel. In the article, Clinton explained to Israel that they won’t be able to fight forever. Eventually someone will have a bigger missile, and they will use it to harm civilians. What she thought the countries needed to do was sit down and not get up until they could come up with a way to live with one another in peace.
In How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend, Timothy Weber talks about the relationship between evangelicals and Israel. He talks about the idea that Evangelicals have this Sunday school love for Israel, a love that comes from reading the Bible and studying maps of Israel through the Bible. These Evangelicals also view the Promised Land as a place that belongs to both Israelis and all Christians. The author also goes about defining dispensationalists and their place in America today, and how dispensationalists have helped mold the minds of Americans. The dispensationalists’ thoughts about the Jews made them whole heartedly believe that the Jews deserved their own land, a piece of Palestine. This prophecy could not come without political issues, though, and so people were divided. Many question the real reasons Evangelicals have decided to help Israel, and whether or not their help has brought the State closer to peace. The future turns to a new group, Progressive dispensationalists, who are less interested in map drawing and more focused on living in peace.
In The Seven Faith Tribes, George Barna describes American Jews and Muslims in America. Almost half of the Jewish population lives in the United States, having started moving here in the late nineteenth century. America seems like the perfect fit for a religion that has the theme, “triumph over oppression”. The Jewish people live in high regards for their community, and they have found themselves doing quite well in America. Muslims in America, however, have lived here in a different way. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that America even really became aware of Muslims, and it wasn’t in a friendly way. Malcolm X created a fear of Muslims in America’s minds. Then America was attacked on September 11, 2001. After that, America’s fear of Muslims became irrational. Muslims overcame this fear and are the most ethnically balanced group in America.
In The Palestinian blunder: A defeat at the UN is no lasting victory for Israel or the United States, Mindy Blez describes the events the Palestinian Authority (PA) took that made a major setback in announcing their statehood. The PA refused, “an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders”. Many fear that the Palestinians are starting to sever the diplomatic ties they have with the United States, which was seen as a huge misstep. “’You can never ignore the Israeli-Palestinian problem because if you want to ignore it, [it] will later come back and bite you on the backside,’ warned King Abdullah II of Jordan in a Sept. 19 interview with The Wall Street Journal.”
Also by Mindy Blez is the article, What do Palestinians Want? Here, Mindy describes the holy land a few weeks before Easter, people from multiple countries, cultures, and religions gather here to worship in their own way. This is also a tourist attraction, where many may be baffled at the defense mechanisms they see surrounding them, such as a 440-mile security barrier wall. To enter Bethlehem, citizens must own a blue card, to enter Jerusalem, they must have a green card. “Munayer has lived in Israel and the West Bank long enough to remember it differently: ‘I grew up with Muslims, I grew up with Jews, we used to play, we used to fight. The communities mixed with each other. It's not happening anymore. Our communities are segregated, not only because people are making choices but because of government programs.’”
The Seven Biblical Reasons Why Christians Should Support Israel by Pastor John Hagee gives biblical reasons as to why Christians should support Israel.
Special Relationships by David Remnick describes how Israeli politicians are too quick to believe Fox News and different blogs instead of believing the personal interactions they have had with the president of the United States. Many of these men were already weary about our presidential selections when former president George W. Bush was thought to be giving too much attention on nuclear plants in Iran. Now they view President Obama as a man with “no special feeling for us”. This is possibly from the President’s willingness to hear from both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In the article Can Israel survive friends like these? Wesley Pruden describes America’s relationship with Israel. Pruden describes the various mistakes President Obama has made when dealing with Israel, such as apologizing to the Muslims for America being America and not stopping in Israel. The article questions if Israel can really depend on President Obama as a friend to the country.
Time to Rethink Arab Arms Sales by Cal Thomas discusses whether or not American policy to sell weaponry to Arab states in order to maintain a “balance of power” is right. The article states that “public attitudes about arms sales to Arab countries appear to be changing, especially… with some dictators using “Made in USA” weapons against their own people.” The author also talks about the need for America's policy of arms sales to Arab states to change.
In The New Anti-Semitism, Victor Davis Hanson tries to answer the question, “Why does the international community hate Israel so much?” This article discusses an unsigned editorial ran in the Economist. This article states that “The new anti-semites are not crass and vulgar. They are sophisticated intellectuals.” The article also goes over a brief history of Israel and Western government protection.
U.S. War Game Sees Perils of Israeli Strike Against Iran by Mark Mazzetti and Thom Shanker talks about the threat of war. A war simulation assessing the outcome of an Israeli attack on Iran would bring in the United States. “General Mattis told aides that an Israeli first strike would be likely to have dire consequences across the region and for United States forces there.” Officials have become even more concerned about Israelis striking an attack on Iran before their window of opportunity with a nuclear bomb-less Iran is closed. “American officials see an Israeli attack on Iran within the next year as a possibility.” America would be seen as partners with Israel due to their stance against Iran having nuclear weapons, and would therefore be forced into this war. This is not the first time this war simulation has been done, “According to the defense Web site GlobalSecurity.org, military planners during the cold war used Internal Look to prepare for a move by the Soviet Union to seize Iranian oil fields.”
Can Peace Come to the Holy Land?
Summaries
HomeBlood Brothers, chapters 1-8
In the first half of Blood Brothers, author Elias Chacour, talks about his upbringing in Biram. He had a peaceful life with his mother, father, and siblings. He reminisces about his childhood home and tells readers about his family. Chacour and his family were Palestinian Christians. He mentions how peaceful his life was as a child and how he would roam the hills of Biram and talk to his “champion,” which is Jesus. Chacour discusses how he was the youngest of five children, how his mother told great Bible stories, and how his father was a true peacemaker. The way his father handled conflict is truly a rare and admirable thing. He demonstrated to his children what forgiveness should look like; he forgave the invaders despite all they had done to his family. Nowadays, people stereotype all Palestinians as terrorists, but Chacour’s story is proof that it is just a stereotype. That is part of the reason why his story is so heartbreaking. In 1947, Jews invaded Chacour’s village because they did not believe that it should belong to the Palestinians. It is sad because they had been living in peace for years and then they were forced to leave their home. Chacour goes on to write about his schooling experiences. His father and mother sent him to a strict school where he lived with orphans and had to answer to a bishop. He met Firaj, who would be his lifelong friend. After this schooling, Chacour had the choice and decided to continue his education by going to junior seminary. After seminary, he and Faraj went to Paris and met many different people and made friends. He had many new relational and spiritual experiences. Throughout the book, Chacour weaves in his spiritual thoughts with the conflicts that were going on. Towards the end of the first part of the book, his close German friends he made while living in Europe gave him a new car and chapter 8 ends with him getting ready to begin a new chapter in his life.
Blood Brothers, chapters 9-13
Chapter 9 starts at the time when Chacour and Faraj had their ordination ceremony. While on his way to Nazareth, Chacour was not allowed past security unless he was strip-searched. He refused, and ended up waiting eight hours until he was let back into his home country. Chacour alludes that this happened because of his Palestinian blood. In this chapter is when the term “blood brothers” is seen. It discusses how even though the Jews and Palestinians are in conflict with each other, they are truly “blood brothers” and they should be living in peace with each other. In this part of the book, Chacour gets his first ministry job in the town of Ibillin. At first, it was hard for him to reach out to the people, especially because the Responsible was difficult to deal with. After a great deal of time, Chacour began to round up more and more people to go to church. He even had nuns to help him with village duties involving the people. After months of working in Ibilin, Chacour realized that people from Ibillin had hatred in their hearts. A specific example of this are the brothers who could not even stand to be in the same room together and would not even speak cordially to each other when their mother passed away. Chacour spoke at a church service one day and it was about forgiveness. He went to extremes to get the people to make up and be in peace with each other. One of the brothers put his pride aside and asked for forgiveness from the other brothers. They all made up because of Chacour. Because of what his father had taught him from a young age about forgiveness and inner peace, he was able to apply that to other situations. The end of the book is all about how Chacour worked for reconciliation between the Jews and Palestinians, and he challenges his readers by asking them core questions about the conflict. He is still all about reconciliation today and makes many efforts for it. He believes that Jews and Palestinians should live in peace with each other because they are “blood brothers" and because of Jesus Christ, he is able to find his inner peace.
A Durable Peace
Benjamin Netanyahu’s book //A Durable Peace// address the crisis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The modern problem first arose with rise of Zionism. Zionism is a facet of Jewish culture in support of a Jewish nation state in Israel. The Zionist are strongly attached to the Jews culture and do not wish to have this cultural identity removed. It was due to the work of the Zionist movement that Israel was reclaimed as a Jewish state. Netanyahu also talks about the issue of Palestinian centrality, which means in order to find peace all of Palestine’s plethora of problems needs to be solved. There are two kinds of peace, which can come to Israel- a peace of deterrence or a Western view of peace. A peace of deterrence is more often seen in the Middle East and in countries under a dictatorship. It is a peace found by maintaining high defenses and avoiding war, since a high level of defense will deter others from trying to instigate war or other trouble. The Western view of peace relates to open borders, cooperation and even collaboration in fields such as science, education, and culture, a lack of hostility, and a certainty of the nonexistence of the desire for an armed conflict. A key element for this kind of peace is democracy. Finally, as Netanyahu seeks a durable peace, he remains hopeful that a lasting peace will one day come to Israel.
Chicago Trip
During our weekend experience in Chicago, we visited both a Muslim mosque and a Jewish synagogue. This time of learn as we saw similarities and differences between these two faiths. Before the visit some of us were unsure of the distinction between a mosque and a synagogue, but after experiencing both services a great understanding and appreciation was acquired. After the service at the mosque, a couple of Muslims spoke to our group basic principles of Islam. They also answered questions regarding their prayers, the male and female separation in the mosque, and their view on god/Jesus. The Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet, but they do not think he was the Son of God. Muslims believe in a unitarian God, and believe to worship the same god as Abraham. This leads to the question- Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God? Also we had the opportunity to speak with a Jewish rabbi and a few others in attendance after attending the Shabbat. It was interesting to speak with one of the women at the synagogue. She shared with us information regarding the daily lives of Jews, specifically Jewish women. She even told us how to flirt and find a husband in the Jewish community. Another thing she shared with us is the high value, which the Jews place on family and having children. Next we spoke with the rabbi. He explained the Jewish view on God and Jesus. Jews worship the God of Father Abraham; however, Jews view Jesus as a prophet and not the messiah as he did not deliver military peace to the Jews. The rabbi also talked about his view on the conflict in Israel. He wished for peace between the Jews and Arab, and would like to see the two groups coexisting peaceful.
Articles
Israel’s survival at stake, Clinton warns by Daniel Dombey is an article describing Hillary Clinton’s response to Israel. In the article, Clinton explained to Israel that they won’t be able to fight forever. Eventually someone will have a bigger missile, and they will use it to harm civilians. What she thought the countries needed to do was sit down and not get up until they could come up with a way to live with one another in peace.
In How Evangelicals Became Israel’s Best Friend, Timothy Weber talks about the relationship between evangelicals and Israel. He talks about the idea that Evangelicals have this Sunday school love for Israel, a love that comes from reading the Bible and studying maps of Israel through the Bible. These Evangelicals also view the Promised Land as a place that belongs to both Israelis and all Christians. The author also goes about defining dispensationalists and their place in America today, and how dispensationalists have helped mold the minds of Americans. The dispensationalists’ thoughts about the Jews made them whole heartedly believe that the Jews deserved their own land, a piece of Palestine. This prophecy could not come without political issues, though, and so people were divided. Many question the real reasons Evangelicals have decided to help Israel, and whether or not their help has brought the State closer to peace. The future turns to a new group, Progressive dispensationalists, who are less interested in map drawing and more focused on living in peace.
In The Seven Faith Tribes, George Barna describes American Jews and Muslims in America. Almost half of the Jewish population lives in the United States, having started moving here in the late nineteenth century. America seems like the perfect fit for a religion that has the theme, “triumph over oppression”. The Jewish people live in high regards for their community, and they have found themselves doing quite well in America. Muslims in America, however, have lived here in a different way. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that America even really became aware of Muslims, and it wasn’t in a friendly way. Malcolm X created a fear of Muslims in America’s minds. Then America was attacked on September 11, 2001. After that, America’s fear of Muslims became irrational. Muslims overcame this fear and are the most ethnically balanced group in America.
In The Palestinian blunder: A defeat at the UN is no lasting victory for Israel or the United States, Mindy Blez describes the events the Palestinian Authority (PA) took that made a major setback in announcing their statehood. The PA refused, “an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders”. Many fear that the Palestinians are starting to sever the diplomatic ties they have with the United States, which was seen as a huge misstep. “’You can never ignore the Israeli-Palestinian problem because if you want to ignore it, [it] will later come back and bite you on the backside,’ warned King Abdullah II of Jordan in a Sept. 19 interview with The Wall Street Journal.”
Also by Mindy Blez is the article, What do Palestinians Want? Here, Mindy describes the holy land a few weeks before Easter, people from multiple countries, cultures, and religions gather here to worship in their own way. This is also a tourist attraction, where many may be baffled at the defense mechanisms they see surrounding them, such as a 440-mile security barrier wall. To enter Bethlehem, citizens must own a blue card, to enter Jerusalem, they must have a green card. “Munayer has lived in Israel and the West Bank long enough to remember it differently: ‘I grew up with Muslims, I grew up with Jews, we used to play, we used to fight. The communities mixed with each other. It's not happening anymore. Our communities are segregated, not only because people are making choices but because of government programs.’”
The Seven Biblical Reasons Why Christians Should Support Israel by Pastor John Hagee gives biblical reasons as to why Christians should support Israel.
Special Relationships by David Remnick describes how Israeli politicians are too quick to believe Fox News and different blogs instead of believing the personal interactions they have had with the president of the United States. Many of these men were already weary about our presidential selections when former president George W. Bush was thought to be giving too much attention on nuclear plants in Iran. Now they view President Obama as a man with “no special feeling for us”. This is possibly from the President’s willingness to hear from both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In the article Can Israel survive friends like these? Wesley Pruden describes America’s relationship with Israel. Pruden describes the various mistakes President Obama has made when dealing with Israel, such as apologizing to the Muslims for America being America and not stopping in Israel. The article questions if Israel can really depend on President Obama as a friend to the country.
Time to Rethink Arab Arms Sales by Cal Thomas discusses whether or not American policy to sell weaponry to Arab states in order to maintain a “balance of power” is right. The article states that “public attitudes about arms sales to Arab countries appear to be changing, especially… with some dictators using “Made in USA” weapons against their own people.” The author also talks about the need for America's policy of arms sales to Arab states to change.
In The New Anti-Semitism, Victor Davis Hanson tries to answer the question, “Why does the international community hate Israel so much?” This article discusses an unsigned editorial ran in the Economist. This article states that “The new anti-semites are not crass and vulgar. They are sophisticated intellectuals.” The article also goes over a brief history of Israel and Western government protection.
U.S. War Game Sees Perils of Israeli Strike Against Iran by Mark Mazzetti and Thom Shanker talks about the threat of war. A war simulation assessing the outcome of an Israeli attack on Iran would bring in the United States. “General Mattis told aides that an Israeli first strike would be likely to have dire consequences across the region and for United States forces there.” Officials have become even more concerned about Israelis striking an attack on Iran before their window of opportunity with a nuclear bomb-less Iran is closed. “American officials see an Israeli attack on Iran within the next year as a possibility.” America would be seen as partners with Israel due to their stance against Iran having nuclear weapons, and would therefore be forced into this war. This is not the first time this war simulation has been done, “According to the defense Web site GlobalSecurity.org, military planners during the cold war used Internal Look to prepare for a move by the Soviet Union to seize Iranian oil fields.”
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